Unofficial Controller Podcast
Your number one weekly gaming podcast for all the latest Sony Playstation , Microsoft Xbox , Nintendo Switch and PC News. Retrospectives , Readers Mail and Industry Chat.
Unofficial Controller Podcast
The Haunted Hobbit Hole: Tales of the Shire's Troubling Launch
In this episode, Scott and RGT are joined by returning guest Seb to dive into a week filled with gaming disappointments and surprising industry moves. We kick things off with Scott's adventures at the Nottingham Video Games Expo, where he not only scored a boxed Sega Game Gear carry case but also connected face-to-face with a valued member of our Discord community – proving once again that gaming brings people together in meaningful ways.
The gaming discussion heats up as Scott reveals his newfound addiction to Harvestella on Switch 2, a game that beautifully blends farming simulation with rich JRPG elements. RGT shares his completion of Singularity, a hidden PS3 gem with time-manipulation mechanics reminiscent of BioShock, while continuing his cozy farm life in Cattle Country. Seb introduces us to Dispatch, an innovative strategy game where you manage a chaotic team of superheroes responding to emergencies – a title that's already captured his imagination from just the demo.
Our news segment tackles several major stories, including the troubling launch of Tales of the Shire, which received a devastating 4/10 review from Nintendo Life due to countless bugs and crashes – another cautionary tale of rushed development. We also discuss rumors of an imminent Nintendo Direct, the upcoming Silent Hill F trailer reveal at Gamescom, and Ubisoft's surprising cancellation of Star Wars Outlaws 2 despite positive player reception. The industry's pricing strategies come under scrutiny as Xbox walks back an $80 price point for The Outer Worlds 2 while Nintendo maintains premium pricing for its titles.
Whether you're a Nintendo enthusiast, a horror game fan, or someone keeping tabs on the industry's business practices, this episode offers thoughtful perspectives on gaming's current landscape. Join our Discord community to participate in our challenge events, game discussions, and connect with fellow passionate gamers who bring these conversations to life.
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Cheers gamers!
hello and welcome to the unofficial Controller Podcast, your weekly gaming podcast, Episode 279, and it's me, RGT, and joined by. Well, you know who I'm going to be joined by. He's sitting there staring in my eyes. It's the Switch God himself. It's the sexiest man that does marathons, because it is us marathon gaming aka Scott. How you doing, scotty boy?
Speaker 2:I'm very well, very, very well. I'm very happy. Thank you very much. We are the gruesome twosome. I think I think you're uh prettying it up a little bit too much. I think if people went to youtube and saw us, I think they might you might change what you say, but no, I don't think you've got nothing to worry about.
Speaker 1:I'm definitely the gruesome onesome, I think. Before we jump into anything else, I just want to say we are doing our subscriber quiz on Saturday, so that will be coming in the next few weeks. That is going to be good fun. If you want to know any more about that and how we got on, keep an eye on the show because the video will be going up. You'll see who our subscribers are. That will be coming up in up next couple of weeks. So don't forget that it is good fun. It is going to be good and hopefully, uh, start of a new, new series to come. So you know, once a year we'll do this little tournament on there. But keep an eye out for that. Um, and also before we get into what we've been playing scott, um, just how did you get on at the weekend? Because you were at the. Was it the nottingham games fair? Is it called?
Speaker 2:or yeah, I went to. Yeah, I went to, not an m video games expo 2025. It is the fourth year it's been running. I've been every year. Very good event and the first event went so well. They increased it to a bigger venue and they did two years there. Very good venue. But it's grown again. So they was at.
Speaker 2:It was a sports hall center, which is very popular. If you're from nottingham, obviously I wasn't aware of it and yeah, there's a lot more room for. So before they had all the talks and competitions and stage chats with producers, game developers. That was done in a separate room and it got hot and busy very quick. But because this is like a big aircraft warehouse hangar, everything was there. The market was there, the indie developers, the games, the games you could play, the retro everything was in one massive room and even including the stage, so people get involved. There's plenty of seating if they wanted to watch any of the talks. So it's got room to grow, which is really good.
Speaker 2:But the highlight for me, I mean I'll talk about a negative. The negative was my airbnb got cancelled 24 hours going, so I was hoping to be staying over having a few beers. But the new venue. The only downside it's more family friendly, which is a good thing, but there was not a bar, it was a gym, so there was no alcohol.
Speaker 2:However, the day was saved because I got to meet the legendary platinum champion from the Discord, george's redheaded stepson. I got to meet the legendary platinum champion from the discord, george's redheaded stepson. I've got to meet ging. I spent a lot of time with ginger. To be honest with you, that was a highlight of my day. So I also got to spend a lot of time with george's grandson and it was just nice to see the family. It was a shame george wasn't there, but it was very, very nice. So I just want to say a big thanks to ging.
Speaker 2:Um, it's really, really nice to meet up with him and over different events that I've been to, you know, timeless and different retro gaming markets Blackpool I've met up with. You know, like Digital Monkery Tom, I've met with him a few times, but there's still some people. Like Badabinks is local to me. I haven't been able to meet up with him yet, me up with him yet, and it's just. It's driven me to want to try and meet everyone on our discord because it just goes to show, like I said, I was talking to my wife when I got home said how was it? I said how the event was said all the people I've met you know it's good some friends up there that I saw there's a few that couldn't turn out turn up, but the highlight of it was seeing jinge and I said it just like if I lived in nottingham I could have a beer with that bloke every day.
Speaker 2:Such an awesome guy and that's what I love, exactly, like he is good banter, like he is in the discord and I just yeah. So it was really nice to to see jim. So, yeah, thank you for ginger big shout out to him. That was kind of made the weekend for me, to be honest, other than that, I've got a sega game gear carry case. I saw that. That is yeah, oh what are?
Speaker 2:your visual listeners. I've got the box here very good price because these are about, you know, 30 pound unboxed. I got it for 25 pound boxed is that all you paid for that good deal, yes I thought you're gonna say like 200 quid or something like that.
Speaker 1:Is that what it was?
Speaker 2:25 yeah he had it, he thought he had it, he thought he had it up for 40, um, but it was up for 30. I said 25 and he went yeah, no worries, that is a seller deal that is an absolute steal that's it, because I took it to.
Speaker 2:I had a. I had a friend there, um to the uk if anyone's familiar with him for youtube. He's been on youtube for a long time. He was selling some games there and I told him I picked it up and he went oh yeah, and I said I got. I said I got 25, there's 25. He goes when I get hold of him I sell it on my stall for 30 unboxed and I was like, yeah, mate, it's a good bargain.
Speaker 1:Yes, brilliant very happy yeah, nice collector's piece as well, and especially for your game gear collection, because you're getting these little bits and pieces boxed that's looking so good. If you want to check out his, uh, game Gear Collection, scott, go over to YouTube Marathon Gaming, give him a sub, give him a like, watch his videos, because uh, he's uh he's a very addictive channel to watch because uh, he's one of my favorites. I can't help but watch him from Game Gear to Switch to anything. Yeah, brilliant. And you see his Game Gear Collection, which is how many games you got now in your Game Gear Collection.
Speaker 2:I think I I think I've got definitely got over 100 games yeah, fantastic.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, very good, very good. Yeah, so check it out. If you're not game gearing, so you go anything switch. Yeah, check check out marathon gaming, right? So I'm glad you had fun there, but I will probably head back to script and say what you've been playing well, you're going to be excited for this one, because why?
Speaker 2:I think I know what you're going to say. Yeah, you know what's coming. Basically, black trial I'm done with now. I'm glad the competition's ended, the winner has been announced. I'll tell you what, why I'm on that. I'm going to bring up uh, the challenge accepted. The challenge accepted for. First of all, thanks to everyone who took part. Thanks to tom digital monkey for putting on a fantastic month of black show.
Speaker 2:I really enjoyed the game, but I can't beat my highest score. I seem to have got worse. I'm trying to focus on completing the decks and I thought do you know what I've done over 15 hours in the game? I'm going to put it to one side, but we've got this month for Challenge Accepted, a real retro throwback. We have got Minesweeper, the game that is pre-installed on every pc from backer, I don't know from dos to windows 94, like as soon as it launched, into windows. We seem to have had that.
Speaker 2:And solitaire it no longer seems to be on the laptop. I checked at work yesterday. But you can play it free online. So you just get a standard nine by nine square uh map and it's your fastest time to clear the map. Now so far nobody's cleared the map. I've played about five games and I'm still trying to work out how to play the game. So it's a very difficult game.
Speaker 2:So anyone I guess this is this is once for the people born in the 70s and 80s, so anyone that remembers playing this game on a computer you might have the upper hand, so this could be a chance for a dark horse to win the competition. It might be someone other than ginge for a change, and I just want to say ginge didn't win this month, so there were some real good scores. But yeah, so I've done with black tro. I've stuck on donkey kong bonanza, so when I next play it I've just been going around collecting all the fossils, collecting all the bananas, but in terms of story progression, I'm stuck.
Speaker 2:I need to look up what to do. Basically, it's a bit where I've got to like free some water from some pipes, but I don't know how to physically do it, so I've took a pause on that. Um, so I said on the previous show, I downloaded a demo of harvestella. I enjoyed it. So I know I knew this would tickle your little belly. You lay on your back and I they do some honey poop this is going to be glorious to listen to.
Speaker 1:I'm going to lay back, fill my ears with joy, go on.
Speaker 2:So I completed the demo. It's a very big demo. Anyone who's got Nintendo Switch, download it, because this isn't like a quick one level five minutes. It lets you play the first 14 days, which is for the first two um chapters and it's so. It's a good three hour, three hour demo. I'd say I played that.
Speaker 2:I really enjoyed the farming simulator element. I really enjoyed the story um, it left a lot. It wasn't too it wasn't too much. You know you're constantly clicking next, next, next, trying to work out like you don't. You know know, a bit story heavy. It wasn't too much story heavy. At the end of each chapter you get a bit of story.
Speaker 2:I really enjoyed the RPG element of the action. You know I kept on finding that I couldn't quite get right into the B by midnight and then you get tired and you don't want to die, which is falling asleep, because by midnight you've got to be home, obviously exhausted, and then you end up losing some currency. So to progress I had to keep farming, selling some vegetables etc, upgrading my weapons in a town, and then I was able to get further. So I completed the demo and I was like I need to get this. So I ordered it. I've got a copy arrived in the post a couple of days ago so I played it a bit last night and I will be no doubt playing it tonight. So my main game at the moment is Harvestella, which might sound crazy because it's not a Switch 2 launch, it's a Nintendo Switch launch, and probably a long time ago, because RGT will tell you in a moment, that was his favourite game for Switch version 1.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, Probably I was talking about it on your Discord today and yeah, very, you know there was that. I've seen a bit of Chronicles X. I mean it's had some great games. Stardew was a good port on there, but for Harvest Stellar, because for me I wasn't really into JRPGs but I did like my Farm and Sims, so it pulled me into a genre really and it's actually a really obviously I and it's actually a really obviously I've got to be careful what I say, but it's a fantastic story. Once you get into it, that's so addictive because you want to know what's happened and who you are and what's going on, and and the map opens up and you get different areas and every area has its own music and its own, whether it's a winter or beach area very addictive music very relaxing oh, very relaxed.
Speaker 1:It's good soundtrack. I'm interested to hear about Switch 2, because that used to on the OG Switch. I played it on my OLED and when you're in battles, if there was a lot going on in a battle it would chug a bit. In battles there would be quite a bit of frame rate issues, but I would imagine that's probably evened out with the extra horsepower under the hood of the Switch 2. What are your? That's probably even that eight with the extra horsepower under the hood of switch two.
Speaker 2:What are the thoughts? Yeah, I've not experienced any lag whatsoever. I think it visually looks beautiful and, yeah, I've not had any problems with it. So having the extra power of the switch two seems to have, yeah, basically made that. No one, no one void.
Speaker 1:It's great oh good, I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of it over the over the coming weeks, and I'm looking forward to really getting stuck into it, but that is all that I've been playing.
Speaker 2:So about yourself, rgt, what have you been playing?
Speaker 1:um, a bit of a list for me this week, and I've eventually done it. Saturday was going to be, I finished work on saturday and I was going to be right gardening time. Nope, it rained. So I thought, right, singularity needs to be getting done, so I sat there yeah, went six hours straight, bag, boshed it out of the park, done.
Speaker 1:Singularity is complete. Three really enjoyed the game. Good little story, um, very. You could probably say it's a bioshock clone. I don't know if it came after bioshock, but it's very sort of bioshock but that first person sort of story mode as you follow through. But really good, interesting, with the sort of special sort of weapon of um or element 99 they call it, that russia has invented and they had.
Speaker 1:There was a big accident there in the feast. They stopped doing it on this island. Then there was um. They noticed there was something. Americans noticed something was going back on. There was, there was movement on this island. So you're part of a special crack team to go out there to sort it out.
Speaker 1:When you get there, there's a big explosion and that almost warps you back to the 1950s, which ends up in you saving a scientist that died originally in it and then that changes the course of time. So then the whole world is changed because Russia's taken over the world because of this element. So then you have to try and go through the game and put things back to normal to get our timeline back. So it's quite an interesting story, really enjoyed it. Like I say, I said I paid 50p for this, which I did, but looking up now it's gone up to about £8 on CEX. So if you're going to buy it, buy it soon, because I think people realise that's a bit of a gem, that game yeah, falling to it really recommend it. Looks good on PS3, plays really well. I'm pretty sure it's available on 360 as well if you've got a 360. So, yeah, definitely worth a playthrough.
Speaker 2:It feels good finishing that, doesn't it? Because that's been a couple of weeks. You haven't been able to get to it, so it's nice that you've been able to get some time. It's nice to complete a game.
Speaker 1:I appreciate it do you know what? It was one of them, where you. It was one of them where I thought do you know what? It's hammering down a rain. I planned to do my garden. It was hammering down a rain.
Speaker 1:I thought, oh, let's get the lamp on, cozy, cozy up on the couch, get myself some crafty beers there, get a few of the brew dogs open and let's play the game. And I just sat there and played it right through to the evening and completed it and that was brilliant. Mrs RGT sat next to me on her Stardew, on her OLED, so she was having fun. Brilliant Cattle Country. I'm about 20 hours in now, still really enjoying that game. Yes, yes, still really enjoying that game. Yes, yes. And do you know what the good thing is?
Speaker 1:When I was on Stardew, you would there'd be certain crops and you'd think, because there's so much, there's so much depth to Stardew that when you want to do something, you can look it up. There's whole encyclopedias, wikipedia about it. So what's the best wines? You can look it up. Well, there isn't really a lot about cattle country. I joined their forum, um, and their discord, and also there was a guy that has done a whole spreadsheet of every vegetable, everything you can grow in there. But I thought, you know, I started looking at, I thought, do you know what? Let's just experiment, see what the valuable crops are, see. So I've put, I've put a load of beehives in and then there was no bees coming to them. Then I realised you had to plant flowers round. And now, because I've put so many in, I'm getting loads of honeycomb. I'm brewing mead and I'm putting it into cabinets to age the mead.
Speaker 2:What about the mead last week? I think that's what my ears perked up to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, yeah, absolutely loving it. Like I said before, is it a stardew? Is a stardew clone set in the western time? Is it as in-depth as stardew? No, but it's definitely worth jumping in if you're wanting to play a farm and sim. It's up there as far as I'm concerned as one of the best 2d ones and if it could be a good stepping stone to stardew. But yeah, I'd definitely rate it for the price of it as well. Great pick by, uh, firm returns there. Um, great choice.
Speaker 1:We have picked, or we we done a vote this time. I think we'll carry on doing votes, me and zhangieff said for our um rgt back in the past, where we're playing through gen 7 games that we've either missed or want to replay. We put it down to a vote this time and the winner was dead space, which has really opened that up, because I'm playing the ps3 version. There's obviously the 360 version and there's the remake, which has really opened that up because I'm playing the PS3 version. There's obviously the 360 version and there's the remake, which has enabled a few other people to jump on because they're playing it through Games Pass or PS5 bits and pieces. So we've got a few more jumped on there, so I played.
Speaker 1:On Sunday again was going to be my next garden day and that rained all day as well, so dead space had to be loaded up. Um, I'm a couple of hours in. Oh, it's still a bit spooky for a game that old. Oh, you know when you're walking down the corridors and the lights start flickering and you can hear these things running across the ceiling it's a bit.
Speaker 2:Played it on the way, yeah, the way I've played it. Extraction in it dead space extraction oh, is that a different? Oh yeah, I, I think it's a spin-off?
Speaker 1:I think. Yeah, it's a shooter like first-person shooter.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've got it down there somewhere next to me here. But yeah, I haven't played the Wii one yet because I know that's quite a good sort of version of it. But yeah, it's really good, really enjoying it. Great choice for people to vote that in. I that in. Um, I'm trying to think what other ones we had on there. I think we had vanquish, we had dead space, we had oh, I can't remember. The other two are, forgive me, but anyway, yeah, so really enjoying that.
Speaker 1:I'm not so many a couple hours in, but I think that's again only probably a 12 hour game, I should think. So, um, yeah, yeah, I will get that done. And then finally, I've started a couple of days ago, murder on your own express on the switch, because I do like my agatha christie games and I had. I bought this on sale on one of the e-shop sales a few weeks ago um, so I thought I'll get stuck into that. Only played the first hour and a half, but, yeah, really good, I love those mystery games.
Speaker 1:I love trying to solve the crimes. This is a lot of third person bit more open, but it's all in express, but set in the modern day. So people have got smartphones, you know as a modern, modern telling of the orn express story. So I'm only just past the, the early part where they learn you to play the game. Um, but yeah, really good, really looking forward to that. I love the abc murders. That was a great game to play, if you like, your puzzles and your mysteries. So really looking forward to this. That's all I've been playing, and also we have been joined by Mr Triple S himself. Seb, how are you, seb?
Speaker 2:You came in at the perfect time, seb, because we've both talked about what we've been playing, so why don't you tell our lovely audience what you've been playing lately?
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me. By the way, I've been playing well. I finished the Altars, which I told you all about last week or a week before last Amazing game. I loved the way it ends because it's so open ended and your choices and what you decide to do matter in that game. So I'm like, if you choose to like splice yourself and have like a botanist, the botanist can then like tell you like what his life ended up like and he thinks you should impact your choices going forward and you can listen. You can not listen. And that's the same way with like the mechanic and every other like altar that you can kind of create there and then, like there's so many mysterious things that go on with the planet, that and so that ending was amazing.
Speaker 3:I've been trying to get into, been trying to get into a couple of other games as well. I really I played a demo recently and it kind of changed my life. So, speaking now, I'm kind of like waiting on salivating on this game to come out, wow, um, yeah, yeah. Has that ever happened to y'all guys, to where y'all play a demo and then y'all are like man, I should do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 3:So Dispatch is the game that I played recently. Have y'all heard of this one, dispatch?
Speaker 1:I recognize the name, but I don't know why I recognize the name.
Speaker 3:Okay, so Dispatch. Think of it like it came out, I think like the preview came out on the Game Awards, where basically you are a dispatch officer for a superhero workplace.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So, like you, you get like a whole bunch of scenarios that pop up and you have to manage a dysfunctional team of misfit heroes and strategize which ones to send out on like different emergencies, strategize which ones to send out on like different emergencies, and some of them have like etsb or some of them have like personal drama, that goes on. Some of them have like beef with other superheroes. So you have to kind of like pick and choose which superheroes you team up together or like you send out on solo missions. Some of them like if there's a, an aquaman like person, you wouldn't send him out on, like a that's about to erupt, for instance. And then if there's a villain that has similar powers to Magneto, well, you've got a guy who's like Iron man you can't send him out. So you kind of have to think and choose that's clever who you send out.
Speaker 2:And there's also yeah, I was just going to say you're very addicted Seb.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it is addictive and then, like some of these, like they're people, so I'm like they get into relationships with each other, they break up and then next thing you know they don't work well together. So, like you have to figure out how all this corresponds to each other. It's a choices matter, action, strategy, single player game, so I played this on steam. I think it's releasing for all consoles later this year, in 2025 it's what they have it slated as. But yeah, this is going to be one of those games that switch to. People are probably going to salivate for whenever it drops, because I'm like it's another, another game to add to that portfolio so, yeah, there's a game of.
Speaker 2:There's a game I was just going to say sorry to interrupt.
Speaker 2:You said when you flow.
Speaker 2:There's a game I played that sounds similar to that nothing to do with a superhero or the marvel or you know, nothing to do with that universe but it's, um, a very cheap game I remember talking about before as a bit of a hidden gem, I think it's called 9-1-1 what's your emergency? And you're basically in a control room, you're handing the calls and you have to decide to send either the police, you know, fire, ambulance, decide whether it's a hoax, decide how much squad to spend there, how serious to take it, and there's repercussions of decisions. And I just looked up while you was talking, at some of the screenshots of the game and it's a very similar dynamic, to be fair, and I'll tell you what that's. A very similar dynamic, to be fair, and I'll tell you what that is a very solid, uh, addicting game. So that is a really cool mechanic to have in a game. But then to also stick that skin on of a superhero and you're doing that, that's just wow. That's going to be a very, very fun game yeah, sounds brilliant.
Speaker 1:Uh, sounds very interesting and a good take of it.
Speaker 3:You know, other than the 911 that you say with, with superheroes, that sounds brilliant yeah and um, and one of the things that drew me to this is like it's made by the same people who made uh wolf among us, you know. So I'm like it's made by, it's made by that kind of same studio and the cast is phenomenal. You got aaron paul who played um, was it jesse from brick? And so I'm like jeffrey wright, who has played like he was the overseer in Marvel, like the what if? Guy, you know, like the big kid guy in the cartoon.
Speaker 3:So I'm like you have Laura Bailey, who's been in a lot of video games. You have a lot of peers who's been in Borderlands, I'm like. So you and you have a couple of people who've been in Horizon for Dawn, who like voice characters in this game as well. So I'm like it's got a heavy cast and a solid production budget for a triple I indie project.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, I'm looking forward to that one. And Aaron, aaron Givet is also in this, who y'all probably haven't played the game yet, but it's voiced when the main characters from Hades 2. Oh, ok, I love the main characters from Hades 2.
Speaker 1:Oh okay, I'd love to voice act in Hades 2. Some of them would be brilliant.
Speaker 2:I can't wait for that to come to the Switch. I'm not waiting yeah, she was.
Speaker 3:She's like one of the main voices in hades too. She was in armored core um fires of rubicon recently and she was uh one of a snow white. Uh, so one of the main characters in wolf among us as well. So I'm like it's a stacked cast yeah, that sounds good.
Speaker 1:You know you say for it for an indie title. That sounds like it's got a decent budget and and yeah, I think it could be. You say it's coming to switch to set yeah, um, as of.
Speaker 3:So the press email said I think it's coming to all platforms, but I know it's coming. It's going to be on steam first, probably, but I know they said they're shooting for a all console release in 2025. So it could be a really fun game to play on on the go, which are yours, you know. Switch to, or maybe I would probably play that on my xbox. Just because of that, I know like wolf among us kind of ran a little choppy back in the day, so I'd probably want to put it on the most powerful device. Yeah, yeah, it's made by ad hoc studios and, yeah, I'm looking forward to that one. So, guys, yeah, man, you ready to get to the news?
Speaker 1:yeah. So I think we'll jump straight in. We've done what we've been playing. So we'll say, uh, we're scoured the very darkest regions of the internet to bring us this week's news. Well, I'll, I'll jump into my story says a little bit of a longer one, and then we can get on to scottie's and seb's news. A bit disappointed for me, this one, but this is this is over on nintendo life.
Speaker 1:This is tales of the shire, a lord the rings game review. Yeah, and I think from seb's reaction you could, uh, you could, probably tell where this is heading and their tagline. This is done, this review is done by kate gray and she has said we don't want any adventures here. Thank you, so you can probably tell where this is going. Um, this is a game I pre-ordered as well, so I'm a bit disappointed. I was quite looking forward to this, but I had be dates. But anyway, a lord the rings cozy game, well made by wetter workshop who made the sets, costumes and props for the beloved peter jackson movie trilogy. Say no more right. Unfortunately, tales of the shire is not the perfect mash-up of hobbits we've all been waiting for, but instead emblematic of the kind of game development that has failed both its employees and its players. Those employees deserve to have their work appraised for the things they did right despite everything, though, so I'll at least start with that. She goes on to say the game begins predictably with a brief and cheesy gandalf cameo. Then your custom brackets hairy footed hobbit, is left alone in their new digs to get settled in. You've inherited the hobbit hole of the late old ruby, who clearly does not care much for this cozy hobbit vibe, because your house is a total state the front door doesn't work, all the gates are smashed in and there are logs blocking off half the garden. But it wouldn't really be a cozy game if it didn't require some virtual elbow grease. Over time, as you fix up the house, you'll learn to fish, forage, farm, cook, befriend the locals who are trying to incorporate by water as an official village, with your quest-based help, of course.
Speaker 1:Cooking is the main activity in TAOS and it is by far the most complicated system. Your meals are defined by two axes chunky, smooth, crisp or tender, strange, as well as four flavours sweet, salty, bitter and sour. As well as four flavours sweet, salty, bitter and sour You'll have to balance these descriptors to make the perfect meal by chopping, mixing, frying, seasoning your food, as well as high quality ingredients, if you want the hobbits to really like you. Unsurprisingly, the way to the hobbit's heart is through their stomach, and this is explored through the shared meals, the real heart of the game, which increases friendship, unlocks new recipes and help you learn facts about your fellow hobbits not that there's a whole lot to learn, because the hobbits as a whole, despite some good writing, lack depth, personality, warmth of samwise or pippin. In fact, these hobbits seem a lot meaner. As you discover the first time a hobbit sends you a chilling children letter complaining that you have haven't fed them in a while. Ignore their letter, they'll go into a sulk. Also, no one ever invites you to a shared meal just rude.
Speaker 1:The cook and hobbit feeding pipeline is a complex but necessary system and it's hard to learn, but once I got the hang of it, it was quite fun balancing all the spinning plates. It's just a shame you can't sell meals, which feels like an odd choice given the game's focus on them, but plus the overall difficulty of making money thanks to a tiny 10 slot inventory to start with and a wonky economy where necessary, ingredients that you can't make yourself cost an arm brackets and a hairy leg. Gardening is simpler but more immediately engaging. It's all about efficiency seeds requiring a certain radius of empty space, so you'll be squeezing uh radishes between cauliflowers, but with a pixel to spare, and it's very satisfying when you do. And each plant also has its designated companion plants, which would increase the quality of the crops involved the perfect raised beds. Like a masterpiece of hard work. Hobbit hole decorating is similarly simple, focusing on ultimate customization and more on a few selected hobby aesthetics. You can change the wood color, make the walls colorful or brick lined, put lamps and plants in every doorway, and then you can scatter a bunch of tasteful dwarven wood furniture too. It doesn't take long until old ruby's mess of a house turns into a lovely hobbit home. But the dominating feature of this game isn't the hill-based architecture or the tea parties with the passive-aggressive Hobbit friends, or the seed distance calculations, it's the bugs.
Speaker 1:A typical day in Bywater looks like this. My Hobbit wakes up and the game immediately chugs like pipping down a full pint. She skips into town and discovers ten Hobbits amassed outside the pub because they've all got stuck on one another. She goes into a shop and the screen turns gray, except for the bottom of the left corner, so she has to navigate out using the small silver sliver of visuals. She decides to take a walk in the forest, so she heads out, passing a hobbit with no textures, having a conversation with no one, and then the screen goes red with all black spots for a few minutes, and then it stops doing that for no reason. She gives up on the forest and goes fishing instead. Only the fishing ui isn't visible and the controller is aggressively vibrating like a jar filled of angry wasps and rice. Finally, she decides to go home, but since it's been exactly 30 minutes since her day started, the game crashes.
Speaker 1:Since I started playing, several of those have been patched. I had a total of 20 hard crashes in 10 hours before they patched the that last bug. But I'm still getting crashes. The textures aren't still loading and the game still chugs horrendously. Plus, on switch it looks bad, as you can probably tell from the screenshots, and the pop-in is pretty egregious, with critters and trees loading in just inches from your face. I hope for more patches to come, but there is a lot of things to fix.
Speaker 1:Ultimately, tales of the shire is a tale as old as time. A mismanaged mess rushed out the door with a lack of respect for the players or the game's developers, who deserve more time to finish it properly and clearly cared tremendously about. But according to reports featuring voices from inside the studio, the project suffered from a lack of experience, direction and support, as well as layoffs, delays, publisher shutdowns, poor management and, of course, the dreaded word crunch. Those challenges seem to have led to a game that's muddled at best and unplayable at worst, and it's just not worth what it apparently cost the people who made it. It's hard to enjoy a wholesome game knowing that the story of its development is reportedly deeply unwholesome. But as long as the games industry keeps chewing people up and spitting them out instead of support and growing talent, this tale will keep repeating itself.
Speaker 1:And it's not cozy at all. And she goes on to say her conclusion is cozy game and hobbits seems like a match made in valinor. The tale of the shire tries hard to meet that lofty goal, but in its current state, at least on switch, this game is unfortunately almost as much of a slog as scalping evil jewelry to a distant volcano. Just but the joys are interesting, twists on well-known cozy game systems. Cooking and gardening are fun. The cons loads of bugs. Too many hard crashes. Boy water hobbits aren't that interesting. Even when it's not crashing, it chugs and stutters.
Speaker 1:The low poly, low resolution graphics don't look great. Needed more time in the oven and they well nintendo life and they have given it a 4 out of 10 and rated it poor. Um now guys, I was looking forward to this. I said I pre-ordered this. I love my little farm and sims. Yes, it's got the typical tropes of a farm and sim, um, but what a mess in it. Hey, I mean, I I gathered when there wasn't a lot of gameplay released prior to this one yeah, sorry, go on sam I got.
Speaker 2:I got a little bit to say, so you can go on, scotty well, no, I was just gonna say the fact that you know, the fact that you just said rgt, like there wasn't much footage of the game, I'm really what. Obviously they obviously knew it was trash and it's been what, how it's been released like what. Are they that bad? But they put that much money. They've got to put it out. Try and get some money back just damages reputations. Same thing that happened with golem before. I know that's obviously a slightly different scenario, might be who developed it or whatnot, but I just don't know why I've released a game that bad. Why bother like so? Surely it's testing. When they get people to come in from the outside world test games and you know they might send it to people who review games and they get the feedback, surely they would have gone oh, do you know what? We'll get rid of that. It's not working, I mean I wonder myself.
Speaker 1:I wonder whether I'm a bit more detailed. I wonder whether that was literally because they knew this was going to be trash. So they got to a certain amount of pre-orders to cover themselves a little bit with the money and then dropped it. You know, it's almost like once we've got a certain amount of pre-orders, get some money back, we'll cover ourselves. Just get it out there. Um yeah, shame, shame. What do you think, seb? All right, you're going to go in depth on this for one.
Speaker 3:I'm going to add a serious question here. Do y'all think the lord of the rings property has had more hits or misses throughout its lifecycle of video games?
Speaker 2:Misses, I'd say I'd say hits, because there was quite a Well, I'd say on the PlayStation 2, there was a good three games. There was three or four solid games, I think, before it went downhill, so it's probably been more better. It's only been two flops, I think.
Speaker 3:Only two, you sure.
Speaker 2:Well, unless it's on a switch, you don't count okay.
Speaker 3:So the reason why I asked that is because, um, you know, like I I played this game full disclosure at a tax and I get hands-on with it, and there was a game right beside of it, right beside of it that was also a farming sim and the lines that, the cozy lines that people were like forming to play. Get hands on with both of those games was illuminating, to say the least, because, like it was baffling to see a high ip have like a line of maybe three to four people at the end. You see, like fairy farm had like a line of like 200 people and it was. It was one of those things to where you could look at the game and tell to where I'm like, oh, that something quite doesn't look right with that. You know, like something, this doesn't look like it's a video game, it looks like it's a tech demo and it's also like a tech demo in the worst sort of ways.
Speaker 3:You know, like it was choppy, it was kind of fragmented, the characters looked like they were like Xbox 360, early Xbox 360 blobs, so to speak. It had like a Saints Row 2 kind of look, but in a like in a cheaply kind of form, and it just always looked rough. Just always looked rough. But the reason why I asked the Lord of the Rings question is because there was there's 20 Lord of the Rings games that have come out since 2019 or now 2025. How many of those do you think has a positive review?
Speaker 1:That's a good point, I would imagine they're quite average.
Speaker 3:That's a good question. Anything I'm saying positive means 70 or above, right? The answer's 4. The answer's 4. And it would be the two, the two middle of the two middle earth games Shadow of Mordor, shadow of War, and then you had, and then you had, the Rts games, all the other games, even the lego games, were roughly around 54, 56, 61, and even the ones I remember fondly, like um the three, the two towers, video game and such that actually, just like they were slightly outside of the window of like, outside of the window of the 20 years point, and then there were like 70s, you know. So I'm like it's been a, it's been a hard struggle with lord of the rings and I'm wondering what does it take to do that id properly?
Speaker 1:yeah, I think it's similar to sort of what you find with the Star Wars property as well. It seems like so many people want to get the license and have a go, but only a handful of studios actually seem to know what the property is about. I think a lot of people buy these licenses because they know it's a big license but they don't really know what goes involved to actually make it for the fans. And you found out a lot with Star Wars. There was so many star wars games, but there's only certain ones that are really good hits, and I think this seems to be the same with this. And I mean also I mean, is this to do with the guys that made this or actually set designers and that for the films? I mean, you're obviously jumping into a completely different career path with games development. Obviously they would have devs with them who have got experience, but it all seems to smell a bit of a mishandled someone trying to buy a license to cash grab.
Speaker 1:The game that they wanted to make hasn't quite made it. They haven't given them the time that. You know, almost like the early days of Cyberpunk. You know it's been hyped up, but then chuck it out and, yeah, it took a while to get that corrected. I mean, I don't know, we'll lay back this to keep patching this to get it correct. I don't know if they will.
Speaker 3:I don't think it's worth that money.
Speaker 1:No, I mean, I've literally just cancelled my order while we're talking, so I order while we're talking, so I've cast my order. Uh, I'm disappointed because I love a farm and sim and they were trying to do a few twists. They talked up a few twists that make it that little bit different to play. But after seeing, after reading this review and also watching on nintendo life, um, I always go to them first because them guys always so honest when they do their reviews and they tell you every little detail. I'm watching, actually watching that review and that k gray done and you look at it and you think this shouldn't have been released. This shouldn't have been released.
Speaker 1:That was chugging terribly along and I thought, oh, come on, guys, come on, I mean you can. You can only patch a game so much. I mean that they had to back cyberpunk for years and they got it right. They got there, but that was a big property that sold millions. I mean, are they going to? Are they going to? I mean this needs so many patches. I can't see him doing it. I think it's just going to go down as a as another Gollum, I think. You know, it's just such a shame really, but I take it, you guys won't be buying it.
Speaker 3:What February about? February last year has about 858 solid reviews on Steam. Very positive game. It's a platformer that's very akin to like an Xbox 360 platformer, except it involves like yo-yos. It's a 3D platformer involving like a yo-yo mechanics Really cool. Like innovative game, kerbal Space Program 2, you know, oh, okay, yeah, platformer involving like a yo-yo mechanics really cool, like innovative game, kerbal space program. To you know places? Yeah, the outer worlds. It actually published the outer worlds, no yeah, how is?
Speaker 1:this is a weird that they're involved with this, then, and that's yeah, that's why I brought it up.
Speaker 3:I'm like it's so weird that they have like such a diverse portfolio and it seems like some of those, some of those are actually hits, like some of those yeah games, but others of those that you're looking like, ah, one of these things ain't quite like the other.
Speaker 1:Yeah, something's gone wrong in this development somewhere or there's been clashes and obviously Kate talks about there's a lot of rumors behind the scenes of devs and leaving and people coming in and things not being quite right. But yeah, I think when you get that much or that many problems behind the scenes, it does show out in the game that's finally released and yeah, it's plain to see now. So, unfortunately, I think this is gonna, this is gonna bomb and go down in time. It's like I say, another golem, I think.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I don't know. I don't know who's gonna buy it. Honestly, I've got no idea who's gonna buy well's not.
Speaker 1:It doesn't come out for another week or something. I think people are just going to do what I've done and cancel the pre-orders, which is a shame, because it could have been a great little game on the Switch, but unfortunately not to be, not to be. So yeah, we'll put that one to bed and then crack on. So what have you got then?
Speaker 2:I've got a few new stories. I will start off from the tippity top and I'll get through them as quick as I can. The first one is a nice, quick and easy one. Nintendo Switch Online has added a classic Mario game. It is Mario Paint. So, believe it or not, 1992, we had on the SNES Mario Paint. They brought it out on Nintendo Switch Online.
Speaker 2:I know, ced, you're probably laughing, but hear me out. For families, this is a good game. So with the Switch 2, we finally get to use the mouse controller. You take it off and use it, and if you've got a Switch 1, you can plug in a cabled USB mouse. That's compatible. And I think this is quite nice because for families I don't know if anyone's watched the trailer, seb, I'm assuming you haven't. But basically, if you can't remember, um, if you didn't have the original, you do, obviously, coloring in. You've got painting you do from scratch. You can also do animations. You can make your own movies. You make your drawings come to life. There's mini games and there's something I completely forgot there's actually a music composer in there.
Speaker 3:So I think it's actually really good fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can make. So, basically, you can create a drawing, you can make it play a scene out, you can add music. You literally create your own mini movie. There's a lot I I remember it being coloring in. I don't remember this much detail, but obviously I was like five years old, so when it came out I probably didn't know about its full potential, but it's actually quite nice. So I think there's a lot of people which will find quite a bit of fun in that. So that's quite cool.
Speaker 2:I thought bringing that back, if anyone has got any, if anyone's got any young children I mean, george, your stepson might play this with your grandson, who knows, you know, that could be a good game to play that um, so that was the first thing. I wanted to bring that up, because that is literally just dropped as of now. So that would be we listen when you listen to this podcast, that would be available to listen to. Then I've got one more bit of Nintendo Switch news. Then I'll move on from the Switch because I don't want Seb murdering me in my sleep. So there has been some evidence from the Nintendo. There's been some evidence, basically, and some strong rumours that the Nintendo Direct will be happening this week, so by the time this episode launches this week so by time this um episode launches we might have had a switch direct, so this could be imminent. So, basically, announcement on the official nintendo japan site and this was spotted by dual shockers states that the e-shop will be taken down for maintenance on both the switch and switch 2 from wednesday july 30th, which is uh, 11 pm, till thursday 31st at 12.30 am. Typically this happens ahead of large-scale events such as a Nintendo Direct, as games are often shadow-dropped or put out for pre-order following release date reveals. Only days ago, leaker Centro Leaks took to Twitter to claim Nintendo Direct was coming in July.
Speaker 2:Several heavy-hitting Nintendo titles are due to be released in 2025, yet are still lacking release dates. So it makes sense this would be the perfect time for the company to share more information with its fan base. If the rumour direct does take place this week, players may finally get a Metroid Prime 4 beyond launch date or more information about Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment. Additionally, pokemon Legends Z to A or Z to A, for our friends over in Texas still states that on the Switch and Switch 2 we still haven't got its release date for October. Given the hefty price of the console, many consumers are hoping to see more exclusives, and Seb did say this. He said is it a weak launch? I defended it. Of course I'm gonna do I'm a Nintendo fanboy but we need release dates for the Switch to games. So the list of upcoming to switch games is lengthy throughout, but these titles are third-party ports.
Speaker 2:August will see the update release of kirby, the forgotten land, or september launches include star wars, outlaws, ea sports, fc and final fantasy tactics. Oh yeah, there's a bit of news there, just more of a strong rumor really, but we are due one. Yeah, we're due one. We're definitely due one. So I thought it's probably worth bringing that up. So can I make a minor correction? This next one might be more yeah, sure go ahead.
Speaker 3:They did announce Pokemon's Legends VA release date. Now, as of the Pokemon showcase last week, it is October 16th 2025 so we've got 16th.
Speaker 2:I just had October written down, I didn't have the 16th, yeah so we got October 16th 2025 appreciate that. Okay, so we've got it there. So basically, we've just had the Nintendo Direct come to you live straight from El Paso, from the single player experience. You've got it there. So basically, we've just had the nintendo direct come to you live straight from el paso, from the single player experience.
Speaker 2:You've heard it source ever the least, the least trust insults and the biggest hater of everything, nintendo. Right, here's one for um seb. You might want to put a blindfold on this one because it's about to get real scary. Konami has confirmed that Silent Hill F trailer will be revealed during Gamescom opening night live on August 19th, and those visiting the event in person will be able to take part in a unique horror experience inspired by the upcoming title. Fans are eager to see even more of the upcoming horror game in action.
Speaker 2:Ahead of its planned September 25th release date, silent Hill F is poised to introduce some gameplay changes to its legendary series. Tells about the next entry in the popular survival horror franchise have continued to pop out through 2025. Giant hill f will take place in japan, which we know, the first game in a series to do so, however, and it will follow high school student Henaku Shimizu as the navigator of the fictional town of I can't say the fictional town, I will struggle, but it's Ebisu Gyowaka in the 1960s, solving puzzles and fighting horrific creatures in an attempt to survive, known for their work with the Cryovisual Novel series. This is from the person who who done some of the writing. It's playing the game's story while composer Akira Yamoka I always struggle when I do any of these Japanese names is returning to compose Silent Hill F's haunting score. Now fans will get a brand new look at the game ahead of its launch.
Speaker 2:So long story short. Apparently, a new trailer for sign hall f will be shown during the gamescom opening night live presentation, august 19th at 2 pm, eastern time am, pacific time. Many fans are hoping to see more gameplay during the show, as it was recently confirmed that assign f would feature more action and melee combat, which we did cover a few episodes ago, when compared to past entries in a series which were more suspense. Additionally, konami has announced that the event will also house a cinematic and atmospheric silent hill f horror experience, though this means of what this is is unclear. Those attending gamescom and visiting konami's booth will also be able to try a metal gear solid delta snake eel to hands on demo, and more information regarding the future of ugo will also be shared. It's more about the start hill f. I know you're not a big fan of the horror said, but do you know any more about that at all?
Speaker 3:the game's release not really on that one, um I I think, konami. The only thing I've been keeping my eye out for konami was is the metal gear solid re-release that's coming up, and so I'm like I haven't really. I think we got a little bit of information on silent hill. What was that in the last playstation? Um, playstation direct. That was like a little bit ago, but I think this will any upcoming information I think will be new information yeah, I think this could be.
Speaker 1:Um, this is going to be a big game, I think, because there's as a lot of res I mean there's a lot of silent hill fans and you know it's quite a strong community there so they're going to be chomping at a bit to get more of this game and see more of it and a different take as well, like you say, set in japan, and that's going to be going to be interesting, I think, because it's quite a uh, it's quite a unique sort of horror.
Speaker 1:From what I remember. I remember playing the first one and two on on my ps1 and you know the clever idea of using the fog. I mean, obviously you don't see the pop in either, but it was very spooky for the time, you know, going for that fog in that town. So, really good, yeah, it's going to be interesting to see, see that, I think, and see, see what they uh, see where they're going with this, especially with modern consoles. I mean, it's going to be spooky and you know the later race ones are really really scary village and stuff. So, yeah, it's going to be interesting to see where they go with this. Are you going to be buying this, uh, scott, or is this a bit bit too scary for you?
Speaker 2:definitely no, no, I'll give it a go, mate. I'll be petrified, I'll be shaking me and seb will be holding hands, shaking in our boots, but I will definitely give it a good go. I'll tell you that.
Speaker 1:Have a joy, con each in your hands actually I know sorry guys, there's a bit of a delay at the moment, so if we were talking over each other, you're sorry I still haven't.
Speaker 2:I think I purchased the copy and I still haven't played it yeah, what, uh, what was that?
Speaker 1:sorry, scott, which one, which one did you buy my back? You've got at the moment, sorry, we're having, uh, we're having problems with scott's line at the moment. So uh me and uh me and seb will carry on. Yeah, so you're not really a horror fan, are you much?
Speaker 3:uh, seb no, no, not at all. Did you play the Silent Guild 2 that came out last year around October?
Speaker 1:No, I didn't. No, I didn't. That's one I didn't pick up. I think I didn't pick it up at the time. I mean, I've never really been too much of a horror fan.
Speaker 2:Delay. I've got, I'm just going to go straight in, ok.
Speaker 1:Yeah, can you hear us now, scott, are you back? No, all right, me and Seb will carry on. Anyway, sorry, yeah, yeah, so I didn't buy it at the time, just because of the other games I was playing, I think, at the time. But yeah, I'd like to pick it up. I saw good reviews of it, so it'll be interesting to play it, I think. And, yeah, it'll be interesting to see what they do in the showcase.
Speaker 3:What about you, seb? What news have you got this week? Let me see I want to do. You want light news or you want, like big, heavy news? Okay, so first of all, happy, happy, national chicken wing day. It is your chicken wing day here in america. Do y'all have that over there?
Speaker 1:no, we don't, I'm afraid, not as far as I know anyway okay.
Speaker 3:So anyways, over here we have national chicken wing day, and then so so many like, so many wing like distributors are doing deals like buy one, get one, get, buy, buy anything, get 10 wings sort of deal. So I was just like you know, in case you were hungry anyways. So so, outside of that, though, on the video game news, I am going to say that I am. I think the light news is that I'm rethinking my thoughts. The Switch 2 is no longer the worst launch lineup in history. I don't. I don't believe it's still the worst Top 10, maybe still, but it does have Donkey Kong Bonanza now, and Donkey Kong Bonanza, as it's averaging a 91 of metacritic right now, are you going to play this game?
Speaker 1:um, I know scott's been playing it. Um, I've been very, very tempted to pick it up because, um, I've never been the biggest donkey kong fan, but this sort of intrigued me because it has gone down a different route, gone down a different path and I thought this could be interesting. Yeah, I think I will, because I know Scott's been enjoying it. It looks good, it looks different and, like you say, it's a Switch 2 game. They're quite rare at the moment. I'm literally playing Switch games on my Switch 2 at the moment, so a Switch 2 title would be much appreciated. I think I will be picking it up. I think I will be picking it up. I think I will.
Speaker 3:I mean 91, impressive. Yeah, that was the reason why. I think that's the reason why I said the launch one I went super impressive. It's not that the games have been like super lackluster, it's just they're only a bit too, you know, like legit nintendo games outside, outside of, like welcome to the nintendo switch, like to the nintendo switch tour, and I'm like I, if we add that into there's three, and I don't think you want to do that that brings average.
Speaker 3:Now, so I'm like brings the, brings the whole score down, but um on the other, the other light news I wanted to bring. Did y'all talk about this last week with um xbox walking down, walking back the price of the outer worlds 2? No, no, I don't believe we did cover it last week.
Speaker 1:Okay, um xbox walking down, walking back, the price of the outer worlds 2?
Speaker 3:no, no, I don't believe we did cover it last week okay, so xbox um at xbox and their publishers that have officially announced that the outer worlds 2, which was also supposed to be the second game to come out with a 80 price tag in the us? I would believe that would be. Would that be like £90 for y'all?
Speaker 1:It's pretty close to the pound a dollar now, so that would be pretty much £80 for us over here.
Speaker 3:Okay, cool, £80 over there for y'all. They're walking that back down to the industry standard $70 across the board, which is a victory for consumers. You don't have to pay the extra, um, which is a victory for consumers, you know. You don't have to pay the extra ten dollars for a product that probably didn't warrant an extra ten dollar upgrade. But it leads me to wonder what does this mean for the rest of the industry? Is this like a stamp to say from consumers that we're not ready for the increase, or is this just a one-off? Do you feel like Nintendo's going to get away with the Mario Kart increase and keep going from there, or do you feel like the industry is going to be picking and choosing? What do you think about all this?
Speaker 1:I think it's almost like Sony androsoft have almost put the pressure on nintendo here. I mean with with, go see yotei coming out, which is going to be 70 bucks, 70 pound. They've said straight away that's what it's going to be. And then then I mean xbox have tried it a bit there, for, oh, we'll try an 80 and for, oh, no, people aren't happy about this, let's bring it back down now. The shoes on nintendo's feet, right, we're not doing 80. Why are you doing 80? And I think they're just putting the pressure on them.
Speaker 1:Will nintendo, um, listen or buckle or do anything? Probably not. I mean nintendo doing their own thing when it comes to things like this. I mean they'll do what they'll do, what they're going to do, and you know, with their user base and the loyalty they have from fans, will they pay out? I think they probably will. But we'll see. I think we'll see. I think, like you say, the pressure's on them, we'll see as the next few games come, come out for nintendo and what they do. Knowing them, they probably, if they do reduce the price, they won't announce it. They would just release at a certain price because they won't admit they've had to back down. But we'll see. I mean, I think the other two have taken a bit of a stand with this and said, well, we're not going down that route and and see what happens. Yeah, I for mario kart is. It's a tough pill to swallow. Yes, I know it's one of their flagship games, but even so, it's it's.
Speaker 3:I mean especially considering it's it's meta scores in the 80s right now, like, yeah, it's, it's not like a high meta score. It didn't break the mold. It didn't re-contextualize what we think of quality in video games. There's just a average mario kart, which is great. Uh, average mario kart still better than 80 of the games out there. Um, but yeah, it didn't warrant a 80 price tag. It was just kind of, hey, we think we can get to get away with this, we're going to. So that's kind of how that, how that cookie crumbled. I want to switch gears here. I wish george was here not to say you're any lesser of a host because you're magnificent. But did you hear about the star wars outlaws sequel?
Speaker 3:no, I didn't interesting okay, so star wars out. There was a shareholder meeting for with uh and ubisoft shareholders. You can see it online with um, basically the the ubisoft of ubisoft's big head cheese. The ceo attributed the lack of sales with star wars, star wars outlaw specifically due to star wars itself being in choppy waters as of late. He said so. He basically attributed the lack of sales to a mixture of things, including including that they're normally accustomed to releasing a game and ironing out the wrinkles after release. He attributed it to a little bit of a timing issue. Here and there, development was a little bit of a challenge. The big attribution of, I guess you could say, assignment that he basically said was Star Wars franchise being in choppy waters as of late, was a huge reason why, as Star Wars Outlaws 2 did not live up to the sales expectations and this is the reason why he went on the record and saying there will be no Star Wars Outlaws 2.
Speaker 3:Really so, what do y'all think of this? Did y'all play Star Wars Outlaws 2.? Really so, what do y'all think of this? Did y'all play Star Wars Outlaws 2? Do you think Star Wars is actually in Trophy Waters? What's going through y'all's mind when y'all hear this?
Speaker 1:I think we've got Scott back as well now. So, Scott, did you play Star Wars Outlaws?
Speaker 2:I haven't played it, but it is on my wish list so I will play it on the switch too, because it is on the switch too. Don't you laugh? Seb george has bigged it up. He said it's good. I'm not a fan of stealth games, however. I start off stealthy and I creep in and then I go full gung-ho. That's what I do when I play hitman. I'm terrible. I'm not good at being undetected, but I do want to play it.
Speaker 2:In terms of do I think it's in trouble as a franchise? I don't think so. In terms of games, I think people will always support Star Wars. It's got a long history. I think it would take many, many, many movies and many, many games to be very bad for it to go down. You always find new, young audience who always appreciate the franchise. So even though some of us old dogs and cats don't appreciate the way disney's took it, there's a lot of younger audience who love it. They don't know the previous. So I don't think it's in any risk of damaging its reputation and I think a sequel will be welcomed. I know it got mediocre seven out of ten but you know it could be worse. It could be a lord of the rings game.
Speaker 1:So it's not, it's not the end of the world yeah, it's a shame they've they've said there isn't going to be one. I think it's an odd one because everyone I know who's played it. Like you said, you thought it was what? 7 out of 10 game.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but they're straight mid. Yeah, it is middle of the road. 6 to 7 out of 10.
Speaker 1:And I think George really enjoyed it. Carlos had great fun on our discord planner and everyone I spoke to is said seven, eights out of ten really enjoyed it, so it has quite surprised me. It hasn't sold. Do you think that's? Do? I don't know if it's to do with star wars? Do you think that's the current climate? Do you think it's because it's ubisoft?
Speaker 1:A lot of people put off with ubisoft going. Well, they are, it's they. They release a lot of mid dross, unfortunately, and as harsh to say, but they do so wherever people didn't buy. I mean, I didn't buy it because it was ubisoft. I know I can't. You need to put the proofers in the pudding. You have to buy it and play it, but I didn't buy it because it's ubisoft and I get so bored of their games. I know this is probably different and there's a bit of a different take on what they do, um, but I just yeah. So I don't know. It's a surprise really and for everyone I think who has played it has enjoyed it.
Speaker 1:So why the sales are not hitting their expectations? I don't know. I don't know what the sales figures are, whether they're over, whether they really put their sales figures too high. I don't know, but they're too high expectations because it was star wars, or maybe they paid a high price for the license. Maybe they said the license cost was so much that they they just couldn't meet it through sales. So yeah, interesting, yeah, interesting. What about you, sir?
Speaker 3:there's a number of things that kind of go into this. You know, like he's um gemot or normally says like some outlandish things at times. You know, like I don't necessarily know if I disagree about the, about star wars being in choppy water, so to speak, at the time, because, like at the time you did have tales of the empire, the acolyte and skeleton crew were all released around the time star wars outlaws came out which were not well received properties in television. But later on I mean later on this next following year you also had Star Wars Battlefront, which has been a rave, rave success and a lot of people have been like playing that nonstop when Star Wars Battlefront 1 and 2 came out. And then you also had Star Wars Andor, the TV show, season two that came out this year, which people absolutely love and rave about.
Speaker 3:So I'm like I think it is a mixture of fun people. I think the reviews did harm this game as far as, like a lot of people gave this fives at the teens. You know, like that the reviews combinated with like how glitchy game was, because it almost did have a Mass Effect and Andromeda type of glitchiness to it when it first came out, a lot of people said the jank was charming like George. He said I embrace the jank.
Speaker 3:There was that element to it. And then there was also the element that Ubisoft, like, when you think of their portfolio Far Cry they had Far Cry around that time. Far Cry 6, I believe it was Far Cry 6, it was the Avatar game, it was Star Wars Outlaws and it was what was the other game that came out around that same time it was not Assassin's Creed, but anyways, they had another game and they all felt samey. They all felt like an open world game. That is, Star Wars Outlaws. Let you go into space and do some dog fighting, but like the mechanics were still there, it was like a light, stealth centric open world game that when stealth kind of went haywire because in these games it always goes haywire everyone goes guns blazing and tries to take out a different camp or different. So I'm like I do believe they're right now. There's a term going around in video games called open world fatigue and I think, like ubisoft, games suffer heavily from those world of fatigue at all yeah so yeah, guys yeah, that's crazy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is crazy, and I mean obviously, I mean I don't know how these licenses work, or how they, how often they buy them over, or, you know, is it a set period? I mean they obviously bought it on a game-to-game basis, I would imagine. I mean, do you think, though, will they do anything? Star wars, maybe, if they got a license, will they do a different game, not on outlaws 2, but I suppose we'll just have to wait and see on that. And you know, see what happens on, you know, and see what we hear coming out of ubisoft. But it's.
Speaker 3:It's interesting that star wars outlaws 2 is actually cancelled and there's not going to be a sequel, but then, like the other star wars game, that is, a single player centric star wars games, meaning the jedi games, the jedi survivor, jedi uh, fallen order, looks like they're going ahead with the third game yeah, it's.
Speaker 1:I mean, how many people have, is it? Is it just? Ubisoft got licenses. Now is the license split. I was supposed to. I mean, you get the lego ones and bits and pieces, don't you?
Speaker 3:ea just put out battlefront star wars. Star wars put out that there was what was it? Star wars ea has like three, because they also aspire had another one right, yeah, yeah, I think so yeah yeah, so I'm like they had um the knights of the old republic sequel yeah that's it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because the actual remake of Knights of the Old Republic was canned as well, wasn't it? They had troubles, didn't they? That was canned. Yeah, we'll see on that front. So yeah, as far as the news go, I think we're about there. I mean, if you have any views on the news or bits and pieces we've been doing, please let us know on questions at unofficialcontrollerpodcastcom or let us dm us on twitter or on instagram or anything like that. Sorry about the interference. At the moment there's a lot of interference on here. Um, sorry about that. If you're listening and there's a bit loud in your earphones, right, we'll head over to our subs list. These are the guys who chip in every month to help us out and, yeah, we can't thank them enough. Like I always say, they keep the lights on here at ucp towers. They keep us going. Um and uh, we can't thank them enough. So should we all take turns, guys on the readout, or do you want me to read them all or blitz through them, or whatever's easiest?
Speaker 1:don't me to just yeah I'll let you go through, mate, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Right, we have got Seanox from Sweden. Thank you very much, seanox. We also have the one-man Georgia fan club that is Carlos, thank you, mate. Then we have the wonderful Firm Returns, who did recommend me Kettle Country, so that'll be hundreds of hours spent from that for me. Then we've got the awesome Trestles of New York. Thank you, t me. Now we've got the awesome trestles new york. Thank you, trestles.
Speaker 1:Rose space monk. The dreamcast man, thank you, bad. A binkster whose uh game room is building, is looking fantastic at the moment. So we're hearing updated photos and everything on there. Uh, tingle tuna. Um, who I do believe was the winner of the balatro competition on right and thinking I think I know, digital monk, we technically won. I think just dingle tune, yes, that's correct. And then the wonderful digital monkery who um organizes our challenge accepted and does our quiz that we are doing. So, as of hearing this show, the quiz will be done. So get ready for a couple of weeks because that will be going live as a special show as well. Um, a board border. Thank you very much, mate. Um the one and only uh going brand boba loba. Thank you, mate.
Speaker 1:Then we've got jim george's red-headed stepson, the wonderful lord of darkness, harvey retro. Emma sharp. Thank you as always, emma. Nowhere near berlin. We're not sure where he is, but I know greg somewhere, but he ain't berlin. Then we've got mumsy. Thank you, mumsy. The rgt fan club wonderful as always. Pete brocklehurst, billy marmite, simon preick, who's absolutely brilliant. All of you guys are fantastic, and that means I have to finish off with we've got a double zeg this week. Yeah. So, thank you guys. As always, absolutely brilliant. Really helps us out, keeps us going, keeps the lights on, keeps things happening, keeps us doing stuff, keeps competitions going, everything. Um, it is absolutely massive help. Um, right, well, I think we better head on to the last section of the show, guys, and um, I'll start with scott and say what are you hoping to play? I think, think I know what it's going to be, but I'll let you know.
Speaker 2:So what I'm hoping to play is I'm hoping to get unstuck on Donkey Kong. So I'm going to go on YouTube, look up what to do to get past the next bit of the story so I can progress on that. But I will be playing Harvestella. That's my main game this week, but I do want to it's ironic because Seb's on and he mentioned it last week I do want to reactivate my game pass. I really want to play a rematch.
Speaker 2:The other thing that's been on my mind for a long time is a Yakuza title and I know on the Switch 2 we've got a Yakuza title. If I've got enough pennies, I've got enough pennies. I've got a few things I need to pay at the moment, but if I've got enough pennies then I will probably jump in on the yakuza physical for the switch. So that probably be what I'm playing. But just why? I know apologies for the interference during the show, but just why you've got me RGT. I just just two things I want to mention to be very, very quick. Um, one is um, there's a basically a new skate game that's coming up. So anyone who's familiar with basically any of the skateboarding games that we have Tony Hawk's, which is very over the top. It's very arcadey. And then we had the skate franchise, which was very realistic. Now, however, it's been done at Bates or whatever they've been doing where it's been at testing it's got record numbers. So, without going too much into a news article because we've run out of time unfortunately this week, but basically EA have recorded record number hires, more than any Madden game, any FIFA game. So any fans of skateboarding or those types of games, that looks really promising. So whatever console that's on, I'm going to get a day one release.
Speaker 2:The other thing I wanted to mention as well, because we did speak about hellraiser in the last show. This is really cool news. Friday the 13th game I spoke about last week is broken. Now this is huge news for horror fans and the franchise in general, because friday the 13th is getting not only a new film but it's also getting a new game. So there was a comic-con which happened, I think, on sunday, a few days ago, and they did announce that there's gonna be a new film and a new game. So sorry to stick that in there, rgt, but no, no problem, signal went early. I just wanted to not deny the listeners of that bit of news, because it's quite cool yeah, no problem at all.
Speaker 1:And just to back up, scott said yes, sorry, there's quite a bit of interference on there and a bit of noise and bang banging. Very sorry about that. Uh, if you don't hear it then I've managed to edit out instead and but we'll just see. We'll see what happens. But yeah, sorry in in advance. What about? You said what are you hoping to play?
Speaker 3:yeah, the I think, the big news. If anyone's gonna be at gamescom, go and go get your hands on the rog ally x the xbox and go play that sweet new Hollow Knight game, because the demo will be at Gamescom. Everybody so like. If you are looking to play the new Hollow Knight game, Hollow Knight will be there as well. I am currently on an embargo from one game that I'm reviewing. It is a solid game, big narrative game, and I'm looking forward to telling you all about that one.
Speaker 1:Interesting.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, um, and then on the other foot, I played a little bit of dk bonanza this past week, just uh, just so I wouldn't be an unbiased guy whenever I would throw out my opinions everywhere. So I might dive into. Depends on what my friend is doing whether or not I'll play more of that, but probably not. But I will probably play tony hawk's first skater, three and four, because I've never played the three and four before. Yeah, so that's on game pass as well, and then I will probably play outside of the game that we're reviewing. I will probably play more ncaa. What about you?
Speaker 1:rg2 there'll be more dead spaces. That's our gen 7 game we're playing for at the moment. Um, I'm playing a ps3. Probably play more in cAA. What about you? Rgt There'll be more Dead Space, as I saw, our Gen 7 game we're playing for. At the moment, I'm playing the PS3 version, really enjoying it so far. Pretty creepy, but good. That's another one. I can tick off my list of those big titles that I never got around to playing back in the day, and there's a good few of us playing. If you're interested in that, join our Discord discord. Jump on there. Um, we've got a little section called rgt back in the past and you'll see, um, you'll, you'll play them through. We'll have a chat. At the moment we're playing to. We're playing up to chapter four. So, yeah, come and jump in. Once we get chapter four, we'll all have a bit of a chat, see how we're getting on yeah, great, how scary is the dead space sorry how scary is it well, I'm playing the ps3 version, so slightly toned down I think.
Speaker 1:If you're playing a remake, like some of the guys are, I think it's quite intense, um, but the ps3 is. It's creepy, but it's okay. It's okay so far. I mean, it's probably gonna get scared. I've only put a couple hours in, but yeah, it's, it's, it's good, though it is good.
Speaker 1:You can see why this got rave reviews about this game and I think, like carlos Carlos was saying, that's nice to have. Rather than having the HUD on the screen to show where your levels are, it's actually on the back of the character, so you can see with the little touches like that, which is quite a head of its time, I think. But yeah, so looking forward to playing more of that. Obviously, cattle Country don't need to say too much about that always going to be going on in the background, whether I'm doing new plants or mining bits and pieces. Loving that game, um, brilliant little game. So I'll be playing that in the background and I will be putting more hours in to murder, on your own express, the agatha christie game which I have on the switch. I'll be putting more time into that, um, because that is. That's another one of my little cozy games and your hard day at work. Sometimes you don't want to be in dead space, creeped right out, stressed, so sometimes just nice to get back. Little puzzle game, bit of a mystery, solve a murder on the train and, and, uh, yeah, do it that way. So I think that's pretty much what I'll be playing and I think that is pretty much the end of the show, guys. So yeah, thanks as always for listening, um, thanks for watching when the video goes live, thanks for watching on youtube, whatever.
Speaker 1:Don't forget any views you've got on what we've been talking about, whether it's Tales of the Shire or Ubisoft or Star Wars, anything like that. Questions at unofficialtrollapodcastcom. Join us on X or Twitter, as it used to be Discord, anything like that. Instagram. Come and say hi, come and join in, come and join in the challenges, come and join in on the playthroughs on the mumps we're doing. Don't forget to single player with Sebastian now. Go and join him, you know, listen to his podcast. They're very good. Same with Scotty Marathon Gaming. Give him a follow, give him a sub over on YouTube. But after that I think all I need to say is there's nothing wrong with being given the unofficial controller. That's what you do with it, that counts. See you later, guys.
Speaker 2:Outro Music.